Garment hangers



June 23, 1959 O'RILEY 2,891,706

GARMENT HANGERS Filed July 20, 1956 INVENTOR. 72mm: 50%45) BY M United St tes Patent GARMENT HANGERS Thomas F. ORiley, Canon City, Colo. Application July 20, 1956, Serial No. 599,183

1 Claim. (Cl. 223-91) This invention relates to a garment hanger, more particularly to a garment hanger of the wire type provided with a hook for hanging garments from hanger rods, etc. The principal object of this invention is to provide such a wire hanger with means for fixedly attaching the hanger to a clothes line so that it will not become accidentally dislodged from the line.

Garments are often hung from clothes lines in the open for aerating and drying purposes. The hangers will often become dislodged from the line due to air disturbances and to accidental contacts during the hanging or unhanging operations. With this invention the hangers can be quickly, easily and securely attached to the clothes line without disturbing the garments on the hangers.

Another object of the invention is to provide a hinged attachment clip on a wiretype hanger which can be used for securing the straps of strap type garments to the hanger to prevent them from slipping from place.

A further object of the invention is to provide an attachment means for wire-type garment hangers which can be easily and economically incorporated in the hanger with very little increase in cost.

Further objects and advantages reside in the detail construction of the invention, which is designed for simplicity, economy, and efliciency. These will become more apparent from the following description.

In the following detailed description of the invention, reference is had to the accompanying drawing which forms a part hereof. Like numerals refer to like parts in all views of the drawing and throughout the description.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a rear perspective view of the improved garment hanger illustrating it in the open position;

Fig. 2 is a similar perspective view illustrating the improved garment hanger as it would appear in the closed position and attached to a conventional clothes line; and

Fig. 3 is a front perspective view, illustrating the method of locking and unlocking the improved hanger.

The improved hanger consists of two lengths of bent wire, one forming the hanger proper and the other forming a locking clip for the hanger. The first length is bent to form a hanging hook at one extremity from which the wire extends downwardly and outwardly to form a first shoulder portion 11, thence returns horizontally to form a horizontal bottom wire 12, thence inwardly and upwardly to form a second shoulder portion 13, terminating in a wrapping 14 which forms a neck portion below the book 10. Such a structure is conventional in some present wire-type garment hangers. In applying this invention, however, the wire is bent to form two straight 2,891,706 Patented June 2:3, 195.9

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spaced-apart horizontal portions 15 positioned immediately below the neck portion and above and parallel to the bottom wire 12.

The locking clip is formed from the second length of bent wire. The latter wire is bent in a substantially rectangular U-shape so as to form two parallel side wires 17 joined by a cross wire 19. Two relatively abrupt hooks 18 are formed in the wire between each side wire 17 and the cross wire 19. The extremity of each side wire 17 is wrapped, as shown at 16, around one of the horizontal portions 15 of the hanger. The wrappings are such as to form a hinge which will allow the clip to freely rotate about the horizontal portions 15.

The distance between the axis of the hinge, formed by the wrappings 16, and the cross wire 19 is less than the normal distance between the hinge axis and the bottom wire 12 so that when the clip is allowed to swing downwardly against the bottom wire 12, the upturned hooks 18 and the cross wire 19 will strike against the bottom wire 12.

The clip can be locked to the bottom wire 12 by flexing the latter upwardly, as shown in Fig. 3, so as to allow the cross wire 19 to swing thereunder. The wire 12 is then released and allowed to descend into the two hooks 18, as shown in Fig. 2, where it will be retained by the inherent resiliency of the wire.

In use, a garment is hung about the shoulder portions 11 and 13, with the locking cli-p extending forwardly through the open front of the neck opening of the garment. The forwardly extending clip is then placed over a clothes line, such as indicated at 20, and swung downwardly toward the bottom wire 12 and is locked thereto, as above described. The clothes line 20 will now be securely clamped between the side wires 17 of the clip and the shoulder portions 11 and 13 of the hanger, as shown in Fig. 2. I

It can be seen that it will be impossible for the hanger to become dislodged from the line 20 until the bottom wire 12 is again flexed, as shown in Fig. 3, so that the clip will be swung outwardly and upwardly to release the hanger from the line.

The clip can also be used for securing various articles and garments to the hanger. For instance a cloth piece can be draped over the bottom wire 12 and locked thereto by means of the clip. The straps of a strap-type garment may be passed over the shoulder portions 11 and 13 and thence about the opened clip after which the clip can be closed and locked to secure the garment in place on the hanger.

While a specific form of the improvement has been described and illustrated herein, it is desired to be understood that the same may be varied within the scope of the appended claim, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed and desired secured by Letters Patent is:

A garment hanger comprising a single wire bent to provide two inclined shoulder portions joined at their bottoms by a bottom portion and at their tops by a hanging hook and having two aligned, straight, spacedapart, horizontal portions joining the shoulder portions to the hanging hook and positioned below and at each side of said hook, and a locking clip comprising a substantially U-shaped length of wire having two vertical side portions, the upper extremity of each side portion terminating in a spiral wrapping about one of the two spaced-apart horizontal portions, the two Wrappings being in axial alignment to allow said side portions to freely rotate about the axis of said horizontal portions; an upturned hook formed on the bottom of each side portion adapted to extend beneath and around the bottom portion to receive said bottom portion, said hooks terminating above said bottom portion and a cross portion positioned above said bottom portion and joining the terminations of said hooks so that when said shoulder portions are positioned on one side of a clothes line, said References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Wobbe Aug. 25, 1931 Grifiith Mar. 6, 1956 Min 

